Needle replacement tool for circular knitting machines



Dec. 11, 1951 CARNES, JR 2,578,506

NEEDLE REPLACEMENT TOOL FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 8,1950 Patented Dec. 11 1951 NEEDLE REPLACEMENT TOOL FOR CIRCULAR KNITTINGMACHINES Julian E. Carries, Jr., Charlotte, N. C.

Application November 8, 1950, Serial No. 194,622

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an improved needle gripping tool for circularknitting machines and its primary object is to provide means forgrasping independent needles of a circular independent needle knttingmachine to facilitate the installation or replacement of needles in thegrooves provided therefor or for removing broken or bent needles fromthe needle cylinder or for replacing needles which have butts thereon ofundesired lengths to replace the same with other needles having buttsthereon of a desired length.

It is well known to those familiar with the knitting art that latchneedles of the type used in circular independent needle knittingmachines are, of necessity, made of a relatively thin material so thatthey may be closely spaced about the periphery of the needle cylinder inaccordance with the gauge of stocking being knitted. These needlesusually have rounded heels thereon and outwardly projecting butts at thelower ends thereof which are substantially rectangular in shape and theprotruding lengths of which vary according to a desired pattern or forpurposes of introducing an elastic strand to certain needles.

It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a tool forgripping a needle and a for holding the same in any desired attitudeupon manipulation of the tool, which tool comprises a pair of relativelymovable jaws, similar to the jaws of a pair of pliers and the proximatesurfaces of these jaws are provided with longitudinally extendinggrooves therein for reception of the butt of a needle.

The end of one of the jaws extends substantially beyond the free end ofthe other of the jaws, and this extension is preferably of lessthickness than the corresponding jaw to permit the same to be fittedinto any one of the grooves in the periphery of the needle cylinder. Thefree end of this extension is provided with a hook-like projection whichextends toward the other of the jaws and the surface of this hooklikeprojection at its juncture with the associated jaw is curved inaccordance with the curvature of the heel of a needle to be grippedbetween the jaws of the tool. Thus this hook portion at the outer end ofthe extension of one of the jaws may be inserted back of the curved heelof'a needle or between one heel of the needle and the bottom of thegroove in the needle cylinder in which the needle may be disposed andthe jaws may be manually operated to clampingly engage the opposed edgesof the butt of the needle to thus facilitate the removal of the needlefrom the needle cylinder for its replacement.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a tool to removea needle from a needle cylinder which needle has a portion of its buttbroken away. Broken needles are particularly hard to remove because theyare usually broken flush with the needle cylinder and have to be forcedout by placing some object behind them to force the front edge outsidethe needle cylinder to be gripped by a conventional pair of pliers. Withthis invention the needle can be removed in one operation because thistool is so constructed as to permit the small remaining portion of theneedle butt to be gripped and removed from the needle cylinder.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a side elevation of theimproved needle gripping tool and showing a needle and a portion of aneedle cylinder in cross section;

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 22in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the front portion of theimproved needle gripping tool but omitting the needle cylinder andshowing a needle with its butt broken away;

Figure 4 is an elevation taken substantially along the line 44 in Figure3 but showing the needle removed from the needle cylinder.

Referrin more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates aconventional needle cylinder, of the type associated with circularknitting machines, and which has a plurality of grooves 6 in whichconventional latch needles broadly designated at N are mounted forvertical sliding movement. Each of the latch needles has a hookedportion 1 at its upper end and is provided with a butt 9 at the lowerend thereof which is used to control the vertical movement of the latchneedle N by the usual needle control cams, not shown. Each needle has acurved heel portion 8 at its lower end opposite the butt 9. The presentinvention is especially provided for removin and installing needles ofthe type described in the needle cylinder 5.

To this end there is provided an improved needle gripping tool broadlydesignated at H! having rearwardly extending handle portions II and I2integral withjaw portions I 3 and I4 and which are pivotally secured toeach other as at IS. The jaws l3 and [4 have corresponding grooves l1and i8 therein adapted to receive the outside the needle cylinder 2|.

butt 9 of a needle N whereby the handle portions I I and I2 may be movedtoward each other to cause the jaws I3 and I4 to clampingly engage thebutt 9 on the needle N. The jaws I3 and I4 have reduced portions 22 and23, respectively, at their free or left-hand ends in Figures 1 and 3,the lower portion 23 having at its upper left-hand end in Figure 3 anupturned hooked portion 24 which is adapted to'receive the curved lowerrear portion 8 of the latch needle N for removing a needle from theneedle cylinder 5. The upper reduced portion 22 of the jaw It" isprovided to engage the upper portion of the butt 9 on the needle N topermit thebutt B of" the needle N to be gripped thereby and to beremoved from the needle cylinder 5.

It is thus seen that should a needle N have to be removed or exchangedin the needle cylinder the operator could move the handle portions IIand I2 of the needle gripping tool II! apart to thus move the jaws l3and I4 aparta'nd'the reduced hooked portion 23 may be moved intoposition into one of the grooves 6 in the needle cylinder 5 under thebutt 9 of one of the latch needles N and the curved hook portion 24 willengage the rear curved portion 8of the needle N'and the handleportionsI! and I2 may be moved toward each other to cause the reduced I portion22 to engage the top of the needle butt and theneedle can be pulleddownwardly and I outwardly and removed from the cylinder.

' It is well known to those familiar with the art that in many instancesthe needle butts 9 on the latch needles N become broken as illustratedin Figure 3, in which instance the needle butts are usually broken flushwith the outer surface of the needle cylinder allowing a small portionthereof to remain because it is protected by the "outer edge of theneedle cylinder 2| which permits only a portion of the needle butt toextend These butts become broken when they engage an operating 'cam atthe wrong time or hit a fiat object and are broken off. Therefore theseneedles with broken butts do not operate properly and have to be changedso that the sock will not have a run or drop stitch. It is with thesebroken butt needles that this invention is particularly valuable.Heretoiore it has been the practice of operators of knitting machines,when a needle butt becomes broken, to take another needle or somepointed object and force it up behind the needle in the groove in theneedle cylinder far enough .to'force the remainin part ofthe butt-"outof "the cylinder so that a conventional pair of :pliers may be-used togrip the small remaining part o-f the butt toremove same.

. In many cases because of the manycams and It is thus seen thatwiththisinve'ntion, needles with broken butts canberemoved'in one operation,thus saving time and also providing a safer method of removing needlesfrom the needle cylinder. Although this needle gripping tool is mostuseful in removing broken butt needles, it can also be used to removeneedles that have the original butts on them but the hooks of which maybe broken or which have latches which do not work and for all otherreasons that it is desired to change the needles and this needle grippintool can be used to better advantage than could a' conventional pair ofpliers. The grooves I1 and I8 are provided to hold the needle butt in anupright position when the butt is still on the needle to make the job ofinserting needles U 'into :thegrooves 6 in the needle cylinder 5 easier.

'In the event one of the hooked portions 1 has to be cut in order toremove the latch needle N there areprovided conventional cutting por-'tions 25 andlfi associated with the jaws I3 and manner to cut wire andthe like.

I4, respectively, which work in a conventional There are also providedclamping portions 2'! and 28 associated ."with the jaws I3 and I4 to beused to straighten bent latch needles N and forany other conventionaluse.

pivotally connected to'each other intermediate their ends and eachhaving respective first and second jaws at one end thereof, the firstand tending groove in theface thereof adjacent the other of'the'jaws,the second jaw having a projection extending outwardly from the free endthereof and in alinement with the groove in said second jaw,saidprojection on the second jaw being curved toward the first jaw atthe free end thereof and being of substantially the same thickness asthe width of said groove in the second jaw, said first jaw also having aprojection on the free end thereof terminating substantially shortof thefree end of the projection on the second jaw and also being of athickness substantially the same as the-width of the groove in the firstjaw.

JULIAN E. CARNES, JR.

"REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number "Name Date 776,688 .Richter Dec. 6, 1904 11,490,019 'Neum'aier Apr. 8, 1924 1,704,992 Sanders. Mar.v 12,.19291,792,837 Harrison .Feb. 17, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date677,726 Germany July 1, 1939

